Ethylene oxide gas sterilization devices such as that taught by U.S. Pat. No. 3,516,223 introduce sterilant gas into a gas permeable bag. Once the bag is filled with the sterilant gas the bag is sealed. The sealed bag is then quarantined to permit the sterilant gas to diffuse out of the bag. After enough time has elapsed, the bag and its contents are ready for use.
Conventional sterilization equipment first converts the liquid phase ethylene oxide (ETO) sterilant into a gas, by warming the ETO storage tank. Next, the gas phase sterilant is metered into a sterilization bag. Such prior art devices suffer from numerous shortcomings related to the large amounts of gas phase sterilant present in the system and the difficulty of accurately and safely metering gas phase sterilant.